A passenger waits for his ride at L.A./Ontario International Airport in Ontario. The Ontario International Airport Authority claims a proposed map will contract the noise levels around (L.A./Ontario International Airport/Staff file photo)

ONTARIO >> The Ontario International Airport Authority has opposed a proposed map it claims will contract the noise levels around L.A./Ontario International Airport and shut out 800 residents from being eligible for sound insulation funding.

The state utility regulator who recused himself from future Pacific Gas & Electric business after his behind-the-scenes emails were released publicly has taken part in similar backchannel discussions with Southern California Edison, newly obtained records show.

One can read too much into questions and comments from appellate judges during oral arguments, but with that caveat, it appears that the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to erase the redrawing of congressional districts by independent commissions created by voters through the initiative process.

Democrats could use the rules to force a clean funding bill through the House, unless the GOP decides to stop them.

By Daniel Newhauser March 2, 2015

House Republican leaders still don’t seem to have a plan to avoid a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security at the end of the week. But they may have an escape hatch—one that could technically keep the department open without GOP fingerprints, but might infuriate conservatives in the process.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Shannon Goessling from Southeastern Legal Foundation joins Lou to discuss SLF’s litigation against the EPA and their violation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The continued strength of the longshoremen’s union was made evident in the recent labor dispute at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

How longshoremen command $100K salaries in era of globalization and automation By Chris Kirkham and Andrew Khouri March 1, 2015

More than 4,400 ships bring nearly $400 billion worth of goods through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach every year, a crucial link in the global supply chain of factories, warehouses, docks, highways and rail lines.

On the day that Stockton emerged from bankruptcy last week, ending 32 months of debt protection, the final court argument was about the “cram down” imposed on the only creditor that did not cut a deal.

House Republican leaders flooded the Sunday TV talk shows, seeking to battle widespread criticism after an internal revolt by the party’s most conservative wing nearly cut off funding Friday for the agencies that protect the nation’s borders, ports, airports and other key areas.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told California Republicans on Saturday that the party should not rush to choose a 2016 presidential nominee because of pressure from pollsters, pundits and GOP donors.

Population trends have been working against the Republican Party for so long in California that a workshop on “changing demographics” came with an air of exasperation at the state party’s biannual convention Saturday.

Hundreds of California Republican leaders and their guests gathered Friday in Sacramento for their biannual convention, with plans to celebrate their legislative victories in 2014 that blocked Democratic supermajorities in the Legislature and to hear from a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

A cyclist rides by a sign at a gas station in Los Angeles posting the latest gas prices on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015. Gas prices in California soared overnight as a result of a combination of supply-and-demand factors worsened by the shutdown of two refineries that produce a combined 16 percent of the state’s gasoline. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Gas prices are soaring in California in a classic example of supply and demand after an explosion stopped gasoline production at an Exxon Mobil refinery while another remains offline due to labor unrest.

Not so long ago, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was the brash, rising star of the Republican Party who felt confident enough to pick a fight with the governor of another big state, Jerry Brown, dismissing him as “an old retread” who would deliver a “failed record” for California.

The U.S. Treasury Department has rebuffed a request by House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R- Wis., to explain $3 billion in payments that were made to health insurers even though Congress never authorized the spending through annual appropriations.

REDLANDS >> With a voter-approved commuter rail project that would take riders from San Bernardino to Redlands and back looming as early as 2018, local public transit critics are ringing bells over its funding.

City shakeup

By RENE RAY DE LA CRUZ STAFF WRITER Posted Feb. 26, 2015 at 7:28 AM

ADELANTO — During a marathon meeting in front of a packed house, the City Council on Wednesday approved the release of City Manager Jim Hart, discussed its looming bankruptcy and considered a measure that would allow Adelanto’s residents to vote for a medical marijuana collective to operate in the city.

Senate leaders moved toward a deal Wednesday to avoid a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department, sidestepping a fight over immigration policy, as President Obama declared his administration would curtail deportations of immigrants in the country illegally despite losing a court fight on the issue this month.

Participating in a town hall-style immigration forum in Miami, the president said a recent ruling against his new immigration policies by a federal judge in Texas was wrongly decided and promised to use all his legal options to ensure the new programs are ultimately adopted.

By Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger February 25, 2015 at 8:54 PM

The Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars from seven foreign governments during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, including one donation that violated its ethics agreement with the Obama administration, foundation officials disclosed Wednesday.

SAN BERNARDINO >> The City Council unanimously approved adjustments to the city’s budget that are expected to give the city a tiny surplus, but will make only two of the city’s five pools available for the public this summer.

SACRAMENTO — Setting up a grand environmental showdown, a referendum initiated by the plastic-bag industry to overturn California’s first-in-the-nation law that bans supermarkets and other businesses from handing out single-use plastic bags has qualified for next year’s ballot.

Republicans in the California Senate have chosen a new leader – Sen. Jean Fuller of Bakersfield – and she will become the first woman to hold a top leadership post in the Senate, Democrat or Republican, the caucus announced Tuesday.

A case before the U.S. Supreme Court, with arguments set to be heard on March 2, could reduce the role of the State Redistricting Commission, invalidate the 2011 Congressional lines, and hand to the legislature the immediate responsibility of redrawing 53 valuable seats.

Eastern San Bernardino County movers and shakers, along with the usually delusional Inland Empire print media, steadfastly refuse to admit that San Bernardino International Airport is an unmitigated $300 million black hole.

SAN JOSE — Take it or leave it. That’s the message to a Southern California for-profit company from Attorney General Kamala Harris who late last week laid out a dozen requirements for Prime Healthcare Services’ $843 million deal to buy six cash-crunched nonprofit hospitals.

Tuesday Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women. The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state comes to the Bay Area at a time when I hear more people — on the left and the right — cringing at the prospect of Clinton heading the Democratic ticket next year — and worse, squaring off against Jeb Bush in a Bush-Clinton rerun. To many, a Clinton nod has the grim inevitability of death and taxes.

The Sacramento firm is paid $3,000 a month to work on getting vehicle-license fee revenue restored.

Published: Feb. 20, 2015 Updated: Feb. 22, 2015 10:01 p.m.

As 2015-16 budget planning gets underway, Riverside County’s four newest cities have parted ways on whether to keep the Sacramento lobbyist they hired in 2011 to help them get back crucial state money.

SANTA ANA — Former state Sen. Lou Correa raised multiple questions about mistakes and possible fraud in his narrow loss to Andrew Do for Orange County supervisor, but he said it would be too costly to try to overturn the results in a court.

Senate Democrats will mount their fourth filibuster on the bill Monday afternoon.

By John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett 2/22/15 – 6:17 PM EST

Late Monday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will force the fourth vote in three weeks on a bill to fund the massive agency that protects Americans from terrorists, floods and incursions across the borders. Senate Democrats will almost certainly block it again.

Getting an early start is important for birds seeking worms and children hoping to get in a top college. But when it comes to prominent politicians angling for higher office, starting years in advance may simply allow more time for troubles to mount, political experts say.

California has stood as a bright-blue bulwark against conservative political surges for years now, blocking at its border a series of national Republican sweeps and giving President Obama historically huge victories.

Former state Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) was indicted last year on 24 felony charges, including accepting $88,000 in bribes. He has pleaded not guilty. (Manny Crisostomo / Sacramento Bee)

By Patrick McGreevy February 21, 2015

A year after his indictment on federal corruption charges, former state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon awaits his day in court, working as a manager at a real estate firm and helping his attorneys sift thousands of documents that include transcripts from undercover FBI wiretaps.

Politicians don’t get much more conservative than Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. He was Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter, an inspiration behind California’s anti-immigration Proposition 187, a Cold War hardliner, and a man who self-deprecatingly calls himself a “Neanderthal Republican.”

WASHINGTON — Democrats have become a confused political party with a muddled message and an inability to turn out enough of its loyal voters, a party task force charged with how to revive the embattled party said Saturday.

California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris on Friday approved the hotly debated sale of a chain of six struggling Catholic hospitals — including two in Los Angeles County — but imposed strict conditions on how they will be managed.

Today on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Ed Hoffman, president of Wholesale Capital Corporation and host of the Main Event, and Ann-Marie Murrell, CEO and National Editor of PolitiChicks, join Lou to discuss the Unite IE Conference.

Alameda’s top official John Russo, who starts in May, pledges to hear from residents and be decisive.

Published: Feb. 19, 2015 – Updated: 8:07 p.m.

Riverside’s new city manager, John Russo, plans to use his experience from both ends of the dais – as an elected official and appointed executive – to bring more openness and accountability to City Hall.

The new NFL football stadium proposed by the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders would be built on a 168-acre site at the southwest quadrant of the intersection of the 405 Freeway and Del Amo Boulevard.

By Sam Farmer February 19, 2015

On the field, the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have had as bitter a rivalry as any in the NFL but in a sense, they’re now partners.

Regulator is responding to criminal investigations of improper contact

By Jeff McDonald Feb. 19, 2015 – 4:56 p.m.

The California Public Utilities Commission has hired one of the top criminal defense attorneys in the state to respond to investigations of improper contact between regulators and the utility companies they oversee.

Lobbyists and advocates watch the action in the state Assembly on a television outside the chambers on Aug. 27, 2014. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

By Patrick McGreevy February 19, 2015

The state ethics watchdog panel adopted regulations Thursday banning political fundraisers in the homes of lobbyists, rejecting exceptions to the rule proposed by a group representing legislative advocates.

The day after a massive ExxonMobil refinery explosion rocked Torrance and ripped apart a 12-story pollution-control device at the plant, some members of the community are questioning the company’s response to the emergency.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s health exchange apologized Thursday for sending about 100,000 incorrect tax forms last month to people who purchased private coverage, a mistake that could delay tax filings or force households to amend their taxes.